Description

'A comprehensive and important collection that includes essays by some of the leading figures in the field. …Essential reading for anyone interested in risk assessment.'
Professor Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame
'The editors are to be congratulated for bringing together a distinguished international group of theorists to reflect on the issues. This volume will be sure to raise the level of debate while at the same time showing the importance of philosophical reflection in approaches to the problems of the age.'
Professor Jonathan Wolff, University College London
This volume brings together top authors from the fields of risk, philosophy, social sciences and psychology to address the issue of how we should decide how far technological risks are morally acceptable or not. The underlying principles are examined, along with methodological challenges, public involvement and instruments for democratization. A strong theoretical basis is complemented by a range of case studies from some of the most contentious areas, including medical ethics and GM crops.
This book is a vital new resource for researchers, students and anyone concerned that traditional approaches to risk management don't adequately address ethical considerations.

Reviews

'An excellent introduction into the field of the ethics of risks. Both philosophers interested in risks and risks analysts who would like to include moral considerations in their analyses will find the book informative.'- Science and Engineering Ethics

'This book makes a significant contribution to the development of a new vision for science and society, a vision that sees society actively engaged in making decisions about the content and direction of technological development.'- Dr Richard Jennings, SGR Newsletter

'This is a worthwhile book, which brings together an inspiring collection of philosophical discussions of risk and uncertainty whilst convincingly making the case for the importance of ethical consideration in risk management.' - Journal of Risk Research

Table of Contents

Foreword
Yvo de Boer
Acknowledgements
Part I: Introduction
1. The Ethics of Technological Risk: Introduction and Overview
2. An Agenda for the Ethics of Risk
Part II: Principles and Guidelines
3. A Plea for a Rich Conception of Risks
4. Requirements for the Social Acceptability of Risk Generating Technological Activities
5. Clinical Equipoise and the Assessment of Acceptable Therapeutic Risk
6. Acceptable Risk to Future Generations
7. The Ethical Assessment of Unpredictable Risks in the Use of Genetically Engineered Livestock for Biomedical Research
Part III: Methodological Considerations
8. Ethics, Reasons, and Risk Analysis
9. Incommensurability: The Failure to Compare Risks
10. Welfare Judgments and Risk
Part IV: Involving the Public
11. Risk As Feeling: Some Thoughts about Affect, Reason, Risk and Rationality
12. The Relation between Cognition and Affect in Moral Judgments about Risks
13. Risk and Public Imagination: Mediated Risk Perception as Imaginative Moral Judgment
14. Trust and Criteria for Proof of Risk: The Case of Mobile Phone Technology in the Netherlands
Part V: Instruments for Democratization
15. Risk-Management through National Ethics Councils?
16. Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in Design Processes: Risks, Regulative Frameworks and Societal Division of Labour
Part VI: Conclusion
17. Governing Technological Risks
Acronyms and Abbreviations
References
Index

About the Editors

Sabine Roeser is an assistant professor at the Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology. She has published articles and edited books in the areas of moral philosophy, risk and emotion. Lotte Asveld currently works at the Dutch Institute for Technology Assessment, the Rathenau Institute in The Hague.

About the Series

The Earthscan Risk in Society series publishes high quality research, teaching, practical and policy- related books on topics that address risk analysis, risk assessment, risk perception, risk management, uncertainty and decision-making in society. Professor Ragnar Lofstedt is the series editor and the series has published highly influential authors in the field of risk, including Ortwin Renn, Baruch Fischhoff and Paul Slovic.